Alberta information watchdog concerned as warnings about government bill not heeded

An Alberta government bill proposing changes to freedom of information rules has passed third and final reading in the legislature despite the province's information and privacy watchdog warning they will "significantly degrade" transparency.

The bill, now awaiting royal assent, creates a number of new exemptions for what documents can be provided to members of the public upon request.

Radio Active10:04Big proposed changes to Alberta privacy and access to information laws

The province has said two bills — if passed — will create the strongest privacy protections in Canada and modernize rules and processes for accessing records from public institutions. Diane McLeod, Alberta's information and privacy commissioner, wrote a 13-paged letter to Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally about one of the bills.

Those new exemptions include any document created by or for the premier, government ministers or the provincial Treasury Board, including correspondence like emails.

Additional exemptions include documents containing background and factual information used in behind-the-scenes policy and legislation development, and communication between political staff and government ministers.

Last month, Alberta's information and privacy commissioner Diane McLeod sent a letter to Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally outlining more than two dozen concerns she had about the bill.

But she said in a recent interview that she wasn't expecting the government to heed her concerns, as she says she made her position clear before the bill was even tabled.